Senator Class
Designed to replace the KR Series Stormbird and Ornith Series Centurion Class Heavy Cruisers, the Senator Class is the first of the 'New Series', designed with stealth and high warp speed in mind. In addition to a more well-rounded complement of weapons and powerful sensors, she also mounts Electronic Countermeasures (ECM), which further assist her in evading enemy fire. Development The Gladius Class Frigate entered service in 2280 with a single Type L Plasma Torpedo Tube and a CFDIC as a back-up weapon. Limited peace-time weapons range experience proved the Light Plasma Torpedo was a reliable and efficient weapon. Using a scaled up Gladius Class hull, and designed with a pair of Type L Plasma Torpedo Tubes as her main offensive weapons, a design for a new Light Cruiser took shape, soon named the Legion Class. The Legion was designed to complement a larger, Battlecruiser-sized design that became known as the Garuda Class. Again using a scaled up Gladius Class hull planform, the Garuda was essentially a much larger "Bird of Prey", much like the older Capsize Class. She was built around a single Type H Plasma Torpedo Tube, the same as the lighter War Bird Class, but she was intended to carry a much heavier Primary Weapons array along with considerably stronger shields and hull armour. The Garuda entered service in 2282, just in time to serve in the 4th Gorn-Romulan War. Immediately though, combat experience showed there were considerable problems with her design. The single Type H Plasma Torpedo Tube simply wasn't heavy enough armament for a Battlecruiser. Whilst her primary array of five Disruptor Cannons was formidable, extended use of these weapons was counter to the Alpha Strike, hit and fade tactics employed by the Romulan Star Navy, and she simply didn't have the shield strength or armour to slug it out with heavy Gorn warships. Production was halted, and the few ships in service used as command ships and kept away from heavy combat. The whole debacle left the RSN with an embarrassing problem. The largest and most powerful ships under their command were of Klingon origin; Romulan Capital Ships of a similar size were hopelessly out of date, and although the 4th Gorn-Romulan War had been a stalemate and white peace, the Star Navy was starting to look increasingly obsolete. Two new designs (eventually to become the Imperium Class Heavy Battlecruiser and the War Eagle Class Battleship/Dreadnought) were on the table, but these were not expected to enter service before 2290. Galactic tensions were rising and the Star Empire could no longer remain isolated. War was coming. In the short term, the RSN was saved by the unexpectedly good performance and versatility of both the Legion Class Light Cruiser and the newest iteration of the Stormbird Class Heavy Cruiser. These designs, along with the Condor Class, kept the Star Navy competitive during the renewed hostilities of the 5th Gorn-Romulan War of 2284. This war also lead to an unexpected development. A Gorn research centre was captured, and this lead to a breakthrough in the understanding of Plasma generation. The Gorns also employed Plasma Torpedoes, but their method of generating and stabilising a charge was considerably different to Romulan techniques. This new understanding lead to the development of the Medium Plasma Torpedo, or Type M. This type took slightly longer to recharge than the Type L, but had twice the yield of the lighter weapon, and required only 25% more power. This made the Type M the perfect weapon for Romulan Cruisers. The Garuda Class was granted a reprieve by the new weapon. Existing examples were taken into drydock for refitting, and emerged as the first of the new Centurion Class. The single Type H Plasma Torpedo Tube was gone, replaced by a pair of the new Type Ms. Her Primary Weapons array was reduced down to a pair of Disruptor Cannons as a result, but the power freed up also gave her a higher turn of speed at impulse and allowed her to operate Electronic Countermeasures, which further reduced the ability of her adversaries to land a hit. The bloodying of the Centurion came during the Organian Conflict. Fighting in her own, stealthy Cruiser Squadrons, the Centurion Class proved extremely adept at raids on Federation installations and convoys, with her counterpart the Stormbird Class being better suited at traditional fleet combat. This lead to a division of duties which proved both a strength and weakness for the Romulan Star Navy. During the War of Pacification, Centurion Squadrons hit at the exposed flanks of advancing ISC forces. Concordium starships proved formidable however and once the element of surprise had been lost, losses mounted. A replacement was sought, and developments in starship design and materials lead to a new generation of starship designs in the Star Empire, rather uninspiring termed the 'New Series'. Despite the unassuming name, the New Series was a breakthrough in starship design. The ethos of this design series was high warp speed and stealth. The hulls of New Series designs were carefully shaped to allow high warp speed, and constructed from materials that aided the raising and maintenance of a cloaking field. This was further augmented by further manipulation of the hull design, in some cases formed from angular plates, in other sweeping curves, similar to stealth aircraft designs of 20th Century Earth. The Senator Class was the pioneering class of this new design ethos, using sweeping curves to maximum effect. The end result was a stealthy, fast and heavily armed warship. The prototype completed trials with little issues, experiencing only slight sensitivity in the alignment of her warp field due to Romulan Engineers having little experience with tri-nacelled designs. Operational History The introduction of the Senator Class to service however, hit a snag, this time political rather than technical. The Senate refused to authorise the serial production of Senator Class hulls for use as Heavy Cruisers so soon after the adoption of the Centurion Class, especially the KR Series Stormbird Class proving particularly successful in fleet engagements during the ongoing War of Pacification. Additionally, by this time the Interstellar Concordium were on the verge of defeat, and the Romulan Star Navy was ending military operations against them by the end of the year. Unwilling to allow such an excellent design to lapse due to what they considered 'Political Inertia', the Tal Shiar became involved. They proposed that the designation of the Senator Class be changed to that of a Command Cruiser, and that in order to keep production numbers reasonable for budgetary purposes, that they could provide funds and materials for the construction of a third of the proposed order. These vessels would not appear on official records, and although would be under RSN command, would be available for clandestine purposes when the Tal Shiar required them. Although usually unwilling to deal with the often duplicitous Tal Shiar, the RSN agreed to their terms, and the Senator began to enter service in 2290. The newly refit (to production standards) prototype, the RSE Senator, saw service in the undeclared border war with the Klingon Empire, bloodying the type and proving her combat prowess. Two production ships are believed to have been among the fleet sent to aid Melkor the following year. She later saw service in the General War against the Gorn Royal Navy. During the conflict, an unknown member of the class was scanned by Starfleet forces fighting the Interstellar Concordium in the Voclus System on the Romulan-Federation Neutral Zone. The revelation that the Star Empire was producing such advanced designs alarmed Starfleet planners, fearing another 'War Eagle Situation'. Apocrypha After her involvement in the Praxis Incident of 2293 was revealed, the Romulan Star Empire began to once again withdraw behind her borders, withdrawing from galactic affairs again all together in the aftermath of the Tomed Incident in 2311. Even before this time, Romulan tactics had begun to turn away from fleet engagements and back to single "lone wolf" warships, now of a gargantuan size dwarfing the Crickets and Capsize Classes of old. The Senator survived as a Heavy Cruiser, finally fulfilling the role she had been designed for. She also proved remarkably adaptable, being successfully converted to AQS Power in the 2310s. She wasn't finally retired until the 2350s. Specifications * Class: 'Command Cruiser * 'Hull Type Designation: '''RCC * '''Length: 381m * Crew: 355 * Warp Nacelles: '''3 * '''Maximum Sublight Speed: 3075 k/s (30.75 Mk/s) * Cruise Warp Factor Speed: wf 8.0 * Safe Maximum Warp Factor Speed: wf 9.1 * Hull Rating: '280 HSF * 'Shield Rating: 390 FSP * Sensor Rating: 1200 SRU * Armament and Equipment: ** Primary *** 4 × Disruptor Cannon ** Secondary *** 2 × Type M Plasma Torpedo Tube ** Heavy *** None ** Advanced *** None ** Equipment *** Tractor Beam Emitter *** Romulan-Type Cloaking Device *** Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) *** Tal Shiar Transporter Pad *** Probes Ships in Service (2292) RSE Senator RSE Consvl RSE Avgvstvs RSE Angvis RSE Caenia RSE Fasvs RSE Firvs RSE Flibo RSE Frolvblvs RSE Fvllivs RSE Gotrix RSE Grelvivs RSE Haliantivs RSE Hedelivs RSE Imperix RSE Kialvne RSE Lavoran RSE Lement RSE Lonthvl RSE Loralas RSE Lvlasal RSE Maenia RSE Mavres RSE Mirosenes RSE Neca Category:Romulan Vessels Category:Cruisers Category:Command Cruisers